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Legend Lemieux finally ends career

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania -- Hall-of-Famer Mario Lemieux retired for the second time on Tuesday, ending a glorious National Hockey League career in which he led Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cup titles.

The 40-year-old Canadian told a news conference that he was retiring because of health problems.

"The time is right because I can no longer play the game at the level I'm accustomed to," said Lemieux who quit for the first time in 1997.

"I also realize my health is the most important thing in the world to me and my family."

Lemieux was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame later in 1997 and is the seventh all-time leading scorer in NHL history with 690 goals and 1,033 assists in 915 games.

With a few tears in his eyes the cancer survivor made it clear Tuesday that medical issues had forced him out.

Lemieux, of Montreal, has not played a National Hockey League game since December 16 because of problems caused by an irregular heartbeat.

In 26 games this season, Lemieux had seven goals and 15 assists.

Lemieux led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992 and assumed ownership of the team when it came out of bankruptcy in 1999.

Lemieux then stunned the hockey world by coming out of retirement on December 27, 2000, and helped the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference finals in the spring of 2001.

Lemieux's final game in his 18-year career was a 4-3 loss on December 16 in Pittsburgh in which he recorded one assist.

Lemieux missed 24 games during the 1992-93 season to undergo radiation treatment for Hodgkin's disease.

Despite the cancer scare he still won the league scoring title with 69 goals and 160 points in 60 games.

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